


Dormammu is Not the Answer

by TaleasOldasTimeandSpace



Series: Yet Another Gratuitously Fluffy Darcyland Soulmate AU [18]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Crack, Darcyland, F/M, Fluff, SHIP DARCY WITH ALL THE THINGS, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, and i can't resist talking about them even if they're not technically there, because i adore my monster baby and his sentient outerwear girlfriend, darcy does not appreciate soulmate who make poor decisions, gratuitous abuse of the eye of aggie, mentions of balrog and wendy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 14:52:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10699299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaleasOldasTimeandSpace/pseuds/TaleasOldasTimeandSpace
Summary: Kaecilius' mind is made up, and short of the universe sending him a neon sign, there's nothing to prevent him from enacting his plan to summon Dormammu and plunge the world into the Dark Dimension (seriously, though, you'd think the whole 'Dark Dimension' would be sign enough).He wasn't expecting his sign to answer to the name of Darcy.





	Dormammu is Not the Answer

**Author's Note:**

> This one's for [NHarmonic](http://archiveofourown.org/users/NHarmonic/pseuds/NHarmonic), who requested Darcy/Kaecilius. Thanks for the prompt!

Kaecilius released a long breath and opened his eyes.  Meditation usually helped to centre him, but it really wasn’t making much of a difference now.  Maybe because he knew what he had to do, and was letting mortal fears distract him.  Breaking into the library at Kamar Taj was risky, true, and his plan to steal the Book of Cagliostro would be considered mad by most of his fellow sorcerers.  But what choice did he have?  The Ancient One was certainly lying to them, and she had no interest in helping to make sense of his family’s death.  In many ways, this was her fault.

So be it.  Short of a sign from the universe that this was not the answer, he would summon his followers and proceed to the library as planned.

A green circle materialized in front of him and a woman fell through, landing on her knees with an _oof._

Kaecilius blinked.  That was unexpected.

The woman jumped to her feet and whirled, throwing herself at the portal.  It disappeared before she could go back through and she caught herself on the wall.  ‘Oh, come _on!’_   She slapped her hands on the wall.  ‘Not again!  When am I now?’ 

Kaecilius cocked his head.  She looked nothing like a sorcerer, but this was clearly not her first brush with magic.  Perhaps she was self-taught?

‘You know this only feeding into the Doctor Who jokes!’  She gave the wall a vicious kick, hopping back with a yelp when the wall proved harder than the toe of her shoe.  ‘Stupid timelord wannabe.  I swear I’m siccing Thor on you when I get back!  Mew-Mew can give the Eye of Aggie a run for its money, TARDIS or no TARDIS.  Wendy might miss you for a bit, but Balrog’ll help her get over it.’  She raked her fingers through her messy hair, turning a slow circle.  When she caught sight of Kaecilius she paused, then smoothed down her hair, straightened her shoulders, and pinned what she obviously thought was a friendly smile on her face.  Truthfully, it looked more frazzled than friendly, but he decided that was understandable given the circumstances.

 _‘Hey there,’_ she began, approaching him cautiously. _‘This is going to sound really weird, but would you mind telling me what year it is?’_

When he’d dared the universe to give him a sign, he hadn’t actually expected it to follow through.  _‘2016,’_ he said slowly.  _‘Not that it will mean anything for much longer.’_

‘Okay, thanks—Wait, what did you just say?’

Soulmate or no soulmate, he couldn’t be distracted from his mission.  ‘Time is the great enemy and will shortly become irrelevant.  I will make certain of it.’

Raising an eyebrow, she folded her hands behind her back.  ‘Uh-huh.  Good to know.  How come Jane gets the cute Lord of the Rings extra and I get the kook?’ she asked the ceiling.  ‘Look, pal.  I don’t know when your genius plan is supposed to go down, but unless it’s several years from now, it’s safe to say it doesn’t work.  I’m from 2017, and my ride’s going to be sending me back there before too long.  ’Fraid time is still very much a thing.’

He frowned.  ‘That’s impossible.’

‘Nope.  What’s the plan, anyway?  Maybe I can tell you what you’re doing wrong.’  She grinned.  ‘I’m good at that.’

He considered her for a moment.  There wasn’t any reason to tell her, but if she _was_ from the future, and his plan _had_ failed…  ‘I’m going to contact Dormammu so that he can make the world part of the Dark Dimension.  There is no time there, and no one will ever have to die again.’

She dropped in an untidy heap on the floor in front of him.  ‘You’re _that_ guy?  Listen, buddy—’

‘Kaecilius.’

‘—Darcy Lewis, pleased to meet you.  Listen, Kaecilius, I’m from the future, and believe me, _it doesn’t end well for you._   You try, you fail, and for most of the world, it isn’t even a blip on their radar.  I only know what went down ’cause I’m friends with the guy that beats you.’  She pursed her lips thoughtfully.  ‘Which, granted, probably isn’t the wisest thing to be telling you at this point in time.  But seriously, the Dark Dimension?  Doesn’t that sound a little… _dark?’_

‘Who?  Who stops me?’ he demanded.

‘What, so you can track him down and kill him?  I don’t think so.’

He conjured a blade, holding it before him and studying it thoughtfully.  ‘I could make you tell me.’

‘Are you seriously threatening me?!  I’m trying to save your _life!’_

His grip on the blade tightened.  ‘My family is dead.  My life is _meaningless,’_ he spat.

‘I’d say something to the effect of “what am I, chopped liver?” but I really don’t want to get stabbed.’  She leaned back on her hands, looking tired.  ‘I can’t stop you, not really, but…  I’ve seen a lot of destruction the last few years, and I’ve lost a lot of friends.  I’d hate to lose you, too.  Your life has meaning to _me,_ even if you no longer can see its value.’

He snorted.  ‘We met not ten minutes ago.  How can you possibly say that?’

She shrugged.  ‘Hey, we’re soulmates, aren’t we?  That’s gotta count for something.  You can even consider me a sign from the universe saying This is a Really Bad Idea, Kaecilius, if you want.’

He stared at her, the blade in his hand dissipating without conscious thought.  Behind her, the green circle reappeared.

She glanced over her shoulder, then back at him.  ‘Well, that’s me.’  Getting to her feet, she dusted herself off and started for the portal.  Before going through, she paused and looked back.  ‘Promise me you’ll think about it.  If you change your mind, tomorrow’s April 22, 2017 for me.  I’ll be at Dark Forest Coffee on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village at 11 AM.  Best coffee in Manhattan,’ she added with a grin.  ‘I’d…I’d really like to see you.  Um, later, I guess.’  With a wave, she stepped through the portal and disappeared.

Kaecilius stared into space long after the portal had vanished.  He’d asked for a sign, but now he had to decided what to do about it.

* * *

 

Darcy was trying really, _really_ hard to concentrate on _The Fellowship of the Ring_ as she sat outside the Dark Forest, but she was fooling no one, least of all herself.  On her return, Stephen’s smug grin had faded to concern when she used his name instead of calling him Twelve and going on a rant about timelords.  He’d tried to get her to tell him what happened, but she just shook her head, hugged him, and then went to find Balrog to cuddle.  She didn’t want to know if anything had changed, not until after the time she’d told Kaecilius had passed.  If she didn’t _know,_ then she could _hope._

Now she was starting to wish she’d put herself out of her misery and just _asked_ Stephen when she’d had the chance.  Somewhere in the city, a clock chimed 11, and she took a nervous swig of her coffee.  One way or another, she’d know soon.

She was forcing herself to concentrate on Frodo as he tried to outrun the Black Riders at the Fords of Bruinen when behind her, someone cleared their throat.

‘Darcy?’

She turned slowly, and there he was.  ‘Kaecilius!’  She couldn’t stop her wide grin at the sight of him.  He was dressed in casual clothes, unlike the robes he’d worn when they’d first met, and he looked _very_ good.

‘I heard this place has the best coffee in Manhattan,’ he said with a small smile.

‘You heard right.’  Making a show of looking at her watch, she added, ‘You’re late.’

He shrugged.  ‘I took my time.’

‘I’m glad to hear it.’

**Author's Note:**

> Kaecilius and Stephen became friends instead of enemies, and while he's still dubious about the Ancient One, he hasn't killed her. For which Darcy is grateful, because she thinks the Ancient One is AWESOME. She regularly pesters the entirety of Kamar Taj to give her magic lessons. Kaecilius shows her a few things, and joins in when she makes fun of Stephen's name. She likes it when he calls Stephen Mr. Doctor, because it makes Stephen's eye twitch.
> 
> He's also fascinated by Balrog, and by the way Darcy and Balrog seem to skate in between the lines of probable and improbable. Balrog mostly ignores him.
> 
> Kaecilius will occasionally go on long-winded rants about things that irritate him (the passage of time, Tony Stark's questionable sense of humour, hypocrisy). Darcy will usually let him get it out of his system, and hug him when he's winding down. That usually manages to cheer him up.
> 
> In the words of Sherlock Holmes, Not dead!
> 
> I've been in a bit of a slump since I posted my last Sherlock story, and I only just started writing again a couple of weeks ago. But I'm getting back into the swing of it! Good thing, too, 'cause I got quite a few prompts to work through.
> 
> As always, you can leave a prompt in the comments below, or [shoot the breeze](https://taleasoldastime-andspace.tumblr.com/ask) on tumblr. Same bat-name, same bat-channel. No smut, slash, or polyships, please and thank you.
> 
> Namarie, my little bilgesnipes!


End file.
